As of this writing, Ontarians are voting for a new government. When this Update is read by GAJE supporters, the results of the voting will be known. Premier Ford premised his call of the election on the basis of needing a reinvigorated, strong majority government to deal with the economic threats facing Ontario as a result of the policies of U.S. President Trump.
There is no denying that President Trump’s various threats to Ontario and to Canada are indeed alarming. Every government within the Canadian federation – including Ontario – must respond to the American Administration with wisdom and resolve. Except for the emanations of potential danger toward Canada suggested by President Trump’s first term in the White House, who would have thought that the country with whom Canada shares the longest undefended border on earth, alongside which its servicemen have fought and died during a number of campaigns against tyranny since the turn of the last century, and with which it has long enjoyed mutually beneficial trading relations – is now a clear and present danger to Canadians?
As one of its chief priorities, if not the chief priority, the newly elected government at Queen’s Park will be charged with protecting and defending Ontario’s many-faceted interests. But still, even acknowledging that the election campaign that ended yesterday was truncated, it was deeply disappointing that no party, no candidate, spoke about – let alone offered to remedy – the discrimination in Ontario’s education funding.
To be sure, there were the usual, but truly “throw-away” statements by all three parties about educational funding. As reported by Dave McGinn in the Globe and Mail, “[Premier] Ford’s government promised $1.3-billion to build 30 new schools and expand 15 already existing schools across the province.” Not surprisingly, both Opposition parties decried the government’s proposal as being wholly inadequate to meet the documented growing needs within the educational system.
“NDP Leader Marit Stiles has promised to spend an additional $830-million per year to clear the school repair backlog within 10 years.”
The Ontario Liberal Party said that schools are overcrowded. More schools must be built more quickly. Taylor Deasley, a spokesperson for Bonnie Crombie said that “every single kid in Ontario needs and deserves to learn in a safe, functioning school environment. This has not been the case in Doug Ford’s Ontario.”
Sadly, ironically, regrettably, when Deasley said “every single kid in Ontario needs and deserves to learn in a safe, functioning school environment”, she meant it in the narrowest physical sense alone. She certainly was not referring to the well-documented current environments in some public schools, of aggressively hostile antisemitism, that have rendered those places quite unsafe for Jewish students.
The subject of unsafe learning environments for Jewish students in public schools was not part of any discussion about education during the just concluded election campaign. Nor, alas, was the ongoing, deeply hurtful, no longer justifiable, discrimination in Ontario’s educational funding.
McGinn’s article is available at:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-election-education-ford-ndp-liberals/
To remind people how Ontario’s unceasing discrimination the amounts to an affront to justice, conscience and especially best educational policies, we point to the authoritative educational study published by three scholar-researchers of Cardus on September 15, 2021, entitled Funding All Students: A Comparative Economic Analysis of the Fiscal Cost to Support Students in Ontario Independent Schools. (GAJE reported on the study at the time of its publication.)
We reproduce some key findings from the study. For reasons too well known since October 7, 2023, those findings are more relevant today to the Jewish community of Ontario, than they were three and a half years ago when they were first published.
“[Public] funding [for independent schools] is the norm around the world, as well as in Canada. Globally, 73 percent of countries at least partially fund independent schools—only one OECD country does not. In Canada outside Ontario, 75 percent of independent schools and 84 percent of independent-school students are partially publicly funded. Put differently, Ontario’s lack of funding is anomalous in both a global and Canadian context. We discuss the four main objections to funding and conclude that Ontario’s lack of financial support for independent-school students is an unjust and inequitable policy—uncharacteristic of a democratically elected government, especially in an advanced economy—that further disadvantages the already disadvantaged.”
“Applying…three scenarios to each of the seven provincial funding schemes (already existing in Canada), results in twenty-one cost estimations, ranging between $535.2 million and $1.539 billion in net annual cost to Ontario taxpayers. For context, within the scope of Ontario’s $186 billion annual budget (for fiscal 2020-2021) this is around 1/3 to 4/5 of 1 percent (0.3% to 0.8%) of the budget. In other words, any of these funding options is a relatively minimal cost to substantially benefit the families who need it most.”
Fairness in educational funding in Ontario is manifestly achievable. The Cardus study demonstrates this beyond any doubt. It remains the bedrock upon which sound, just, educationally and ethically appropriate decisions for all of Ontario’s school children can be based. But, there is no political will to achieve fairness and finally cast aside discrimination.
As noted above, it was deeply disappointing that no party, no candidate, spoke about – let alone offered to remedy – the discrimination in Ontario’s education funding.
For shame.
The Cardus study: https://www.cardus.ca/research/education/reports/the-cost-to-fund-students-in-ontario-independent-schools/
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We wish to remind our supporters: GAJE still awaits the decision of the Court of Appeal on our motion seeking leave to appeal the September 2024 decision by the Divisional Court that dismissed our application to bring about fairness in educational funding in Ontario.
If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
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Shabbat shalom
Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
February 28, 2025
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 